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France's traditions of national sovereignty and its global status as a "great power" help to explain its investments in an independent and autonomous armaments industry. The resulting capabilities, ranging from fighter aircraft to nuclear weapons, have helped to ensure the position of France as a leading nation during the latter half of the twentieth century. Overcoming the inherent problems associated with state control and oversight of the means of production, France has developed a robust manufacturing capability and has produced, among other systems, technologically advanced designs in combat aircraft (the Rafale fighter), space rocket launchers (the Ariane 5 launcher), and remote sensing satellites (the Helios military satellite). However, the need to continue incorporating modem, expensive technology into French systems in the face of budgetary cutbacks has brought the future viability of autonomous and French-led programs into question. As a result, France and other major European nations have tried to find a common solution to consolidate each country's aerospace and defense firms into one corporate entity that could compete effectively against the United States. However, problems rooted in maintaining national capabilities, especially in France, have kept this design from becoming a reality http://archive.org/details/thefrenchaerospa109458427 Lieutenant, United States Navy Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

The powerful hold of the Italian Christian Democratic Party on post-war government entitles it to recognition as, in many ways, the most successful party in Western Europe. At the same time, the party is unique in having mass support whilst being identified with the political 'centre'. This study focuses on the relationship between these two aspects of Italian politics. The thesis starts by examining the importance of spatial terminology in analyses of Italian politics and proposes that 'the centre' has two distinct, if not unrelated, meanings. Drawing on this idea the thesis seeks to show that the evolution of the Italian party system can be understood through an analysis of two strategies which have dominated the Christian Democratic Party: the centre political strategy and the centre party strategy, each rooted in a different understanding of the centre. In studying these strategies, party competition is emphasised as the means by which Italian multi-partism has been bound into a unified, if internally contradictory system; whilst a study of economic policy-making exemplifies the complex inter-relationship which has seen this 'contradictory unity' contribute to the nation-building process. The thesis contributes to the debate about the nature of Christian Democracy and party competition in Italy, and to the debate within comparative politics about the nature of party system structure.